Hello! I have very deep problems with counters, and I hope that you girls and boys can help me a little bit.

1. 二月 means "february" and "two months", but can it also mean "two moons"? Which counter do you use when you count moons? How do you say "I saw two moons" or, "I bought two moons" (silly question, I know, but let us focus on the grammar)? 2. According to jisho.org, 二月, when it means "two months", is pronounced ふたつき, but I have heard that "two months" in japanese is "nikagetsu". What is the difference between "futatsuki" and "nikagetsu"? Is "tsuki" a counter?

I will maybe return with a few more questions later, I am sure there is something I have missed.

Svensk wrote:Hello! I have very deep problems with counters, and I hope that you girls and boys can help me a little bit.

1. 二月 means "february" and "two months", but can it also mean "two moons"?

No. 月 means only what orbits the Earth; "moons" of other planets are 衛星 and are counted with 個. (The Japanese wikipedia article even has a note on the English usage: 英語では、口語的に "moons" という言葉で、月にかぎらず、各惑星等の衛星全般を指すこともある。)

2. According to jisho.org, 二月, when it means "two months", is pronounced ふたつき, but I have heard that "two months" in japanese is "nikagetsu". What is the difference between "futatsuki" and "nikagetsu"? Is "tsuki" a counter?

Svensk wrote:Ok! But even though "ふたつき" might be very old, I can still use it the same way as I use "かげつ", right?

That's what Chris (Yudan) and I were discussing. I haven't been to Japan in about a decade, while Chris has been there more recently (and might still be there now?) so, his insight will be more current or modern in my opinion.

Use it and see if there seems to be a confusion, if so, then use kagetsu..